Concepts of Creating an  Effective Logo

How does RnD (Research & Development) tie into my logo design?

The logo could appear similar to another logo in it's related field. Many logo designers research similar logos with the intention to avoid their logo looking like another.

It's best to design a logo with the companies goals, missions, directions, company image, and it's effective to be usable on more than one format (e.g. business cards, letterheads, compliment slips) _[1].

Meaningful and Effective Logo Designs

The logo's has to be meaningful, as well as be modern, clean and memorable. In most cases this meaning is displayed subliminally and happens to be internally understood within the company. It's logo designs incorporate these messages conveying reasoning behind their design with respects to their missions, goals and their conveyances _[6].

Less is more and the KISS (Keep it simple stupid) Principle

Often logo's are better made simpler. When an initial idea is not working, people always feel it's best to add to it, further complicating the logo design, and ultimately going against the design. The ideology of “less is more” [5], holds true for logo design. In this busy world we live in it's important to preserve a simplicity in the image. By doing so we affectively enhances logo recognition as it's visually easy on the eyes _[2].

Future-proofing your logo

Where will your company be in 5 or 15 years? Will your company goals change, or will your market? How can you ensure you don't categorizing your work before you've established a stable market? All these questions are very important and they need to be addressed before proceeding with a logo design.

Your logo needs identity but simultaneously being too specific you could pigeon hole your business. It's best to be open with the logo designs as to allow the business room for movement and diversity _[3].

What considerations are there when dealing with print media?

Monitors displays colours differently to print media!

Logo's have to be displayed equally well in black-and-white as well as colour as they will have to be printed on stationary, invoices and advertising material.

Aspect-ratio's can challenge a logo's designs, as each medium will have it's own aspect-ratio. Business cards have their predefined formats (US format; 88.9 x 50.8mm, UK; 85 x 55mm)_[4] and the logo needs to be displayed on this format without hindrance.

It's important to note that certain design trends like drop shadows, gradients and saturated colours don't display too well with print media.

Copying is the sincerest form of flattery

The steps involved in designing a custom logo contradicts that of copying an already existing logo. All companies are unique, and as such it's essential that the logo is unique and memorable, which is effectively the goal of having a logo designed. There are hundreds of thousands of logos, and being surrounded by the same influences there is a likely possibility that your logo might have similarities to another, but even so each logo remains unique for it's own concepts _[7].

Authors:

Bryan Vorel (Vorel Designs, Kenyon, Minnesota, U.S.A.)
Evangelos Evangelou (PricklyPear Media, Cyprus)

References

1. ^ Wikipedia, "Corporate Branding" - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corporate_branding Retrieved 2011-08-01
2. ^ Wikipedia, "Logo" - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Logo Retrieved 2011-08-01
3. ^ "21 Logo Evolutions of the World’s Well Known Logo Designs", Bored Pandahttp://www.boredpanda.com/21-logo-evolutions-pepsi-cola-apple-nike-nokia/ Retrieved 2011-08-01
4. ^ MyProfessionalAdvertising, "Logos That Work"http://www.myprofessionaladvertising.com/Logos%20That%20Work.htm Retrieved 2011-08-01
5. ^ James Wagner, "Copycat logos are pitting high schools and colleges in a trademark turf war". October 21, 2010 Washington Post Staff Writerhttp://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/10/21/AR2010102106526.html?hpid=topnews Retrieved 2011-08-01
6. ^ Jacob Cass, "Copyright Issues In Logo Design". JustCreateDesignhttp://justcreativedesign.com/2009/01/14/logo-design-copyright-laws/ Retrieved 2011-08-01
7. ^ "Logo Design History". Logo Orange http://www.logoorange.com/logodesign-A.php Retrieved 2011-08-01
8. ^ "The History Of The Sony Logo". Sony Insider http://www.sonyinsider.com/2009/03/11/the-history-of-the-sony-logo/ Retrieved 2011-08-01
9. ^ "Evolution of logos of Famous Brands". ArtAtmhttp://artatm.com/2010/04/evolution-of-logos-of-famous-brands/ Retrieved 2011-08-01
10. ^ "Trivia". Good Logo.comhttp://www.goodlogo.com/extended.info/2616 Retrieved 2011-08-01